Search Grants & Funding

Skip Ahead is a joint initiative of Screen Australia and YouTube Australia. Since 2014, over the course of nine funding rounds, Skip Ahead has supported 47 YouTube content creators and their projects to develop their skills and support them to work towards sustainable careers.

Skip Ahead is open to both documentary and scripted narrative projects from Australian content creators where the producers and creators of the content maintain and retain control of self-distributing the work and taking it to audience on YouTube or YouTube Kids. 

Skip Ahead aims to:

• support a new generation of online/direct-to-audience storytellers and IP creators to expand their vision and ambition;

• cultivate original Australian documentary or scripted narrative content made specifically for local and global online audiences; and,

• ensure the storytellers and stories being told reflect the diversity of people and experiences from around Australia, and promoting their importance - culturally, creatively and economically.

Eligible Entities

Applicants can apply as a company or in certain circumstances, an individual* (either alone or as part of a team). To be eligible, the applicant must: 

• be an incorporated company carrying on business in Australia, with its central management and control in Australia;

• have an Australian Business Number (ABN);

• be registered for the purposes of GST if required by law;

• control the rights necessary to carry out the project, meaning that it must have clear chain of title and must generally be party to any underlying rights agreements;

• maintain and retain control of self-distributing the project and taking it to audience on YouTube or YouTube Kids; and

• be the original content creator or team responsible for one of the following:

• a current YouTube channel with at least 25,000 subscribers; OR

• a maximum of two current YouTube channels with a combined subscriber base of 40,000; OR

• a YouTube video which has achieved a minimum of 1 million views on a Youtube channel which has a subscriber base of at least 10,000.

Applicants must meet at least one of the requirements listed above to be eligible. 

*Applications will be accepted from eligible individuals (sole traders) that are Australian citizens or permanent residents (holding a permanent visa), who are over the age of 18 and have an ABN. However, if successful, the applicant must incorporate as a company before contracting with Screen Australia for production funding. 

Genuine collaborations between a YouTube content creator(s) and established producers, production companies and/or entertainment properties are encouraged and may strengthen an application.

Project Eligibility

The project that is the subject of the application must:

• be for a scripted narrative project of any genre or documentary;

• be intended to be uploaded to YouTube and/or YouTube Kids;

• not be a ‘How to...’ or lifestyle program (including travel and cooking) or reality;

• not have entered pre-production or production prior to the conclusion of the workshop dates; and,

• not be an advertorial or intended primarily as advertising or marketing material.

This program seeks to provide practitioners with the opportunity to create appropriate written and/or visual materials to ensure that projects are as strong as possible when competing for production finance. Emerging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander producers are encouraged to apply.

What funding is available?

• Up to $30,000 for one-off feature and series documentaries intended for a Commissioning Platform
• Up to $20,000 for one-hour television documentaries 
• Up to $20,000 for online series productions

Funding is available for the further development of a treatment and/or draft scripts, series bible, project development as well as fees for writer, producer, director, story consultant, research, and/or securing production financing.

Turnaround time for decisions is approximately six weeks from deadline.
Deadline: 5pm AEST Thursday10 July 2025
Deadline: 5pm AEST Thursday 4 September 2025
Deadline: 5pm AEDT Thursday 6 November 2025

The Narrative Content Short Film Production Funding Program supports a team of content makers that must include Director, Writer, Producer and, where applicable, Animator, to make a Narrative Content Short Film intended for theatrical festivals.   

The aims of Narrative Content Short Film Production Program are to support:

• Australian live action or animated Narrative Short Films for a first and primary window of a theatrical festival outcome;

• talent who are connected to the stories they tell and reflect the breadth of Australia in service of cultural, creative and economic benefits; and
• talent and stories with viable pathways to festival audiences locally and/or globally.

The program will have two application rounds per financial year.

Internships assist practitioners whose careers would benefit from an attachment to a person, production or organisation. This program is designed to assist the career development of talented filmmakers who can demonstrate a strong commitment to a career in the film industry. This is not an entry-level scheme.

An internship may take many forms and involve features, documentaries, animation, interactive digital media, TV drama or comedy series. For example:

• a director might attach themselves to a more experienced director on a production
• a producer might spend time in a TV production house to observe the script development and creative management process, or they may wish to work with a more senior producer developing a financing plan for a project of their own
• an animation filmmaker may wish to enhance specific technical or creative skills
• a filmmaker may want to hire a more experienced producer or director as a consultant on their own funded production.

 Who can apply?

The potential intern must:

• meet the general eligibility requirements of Screen Australia’s Terms of Trade
• be an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Australian
• only apply for the internship funding twice in their career.

No minimum credits are required, but previous work will be considered in assessing the applicant’s commitment to screen storytelling as a career.

The International Finance fund provides support to Australian projects with a very high level of global appeal, to assist them to develop pitching materials and strategy, in order to best attract international partnerships and finance in the current market. 

It is open to long form drama and documentary projects on any platform which are market ready, have undergone a successful development process and can demonstrate development funding from an arm’s length commercial partner.

Applications for this fund are open to anyone who:

• meets all requirements and conditions in our Terms of Trade
• is an Australian individual or team.  Co-productions may also apply with an application from the Australian Company.
• has a market-ready, long-form project on any platform
• has undergone significant creative development and has the key creative team attached
• has a project that is uniquely and culturally identifiable as Australian and is also bold, ambitious and has universal appeal
• controls the rights and has meaningful creative control of the project
• can evidence successful development process and funding from an arm’s length commercial partner (i.e. a substantial and well-known international or Australian commercial entity with an effective track record on similar projects, for example, a commissioning platform, broadcaster, local or international distributor, studio or production company of substance) and/or Screen Australia where their development funding will have been fully acquitted as a pre-condition of eligibility.

Please refer to the ACMA guidelines for the definition of a documentary note: Screen Australia does not invest in programs such as reality or magazine television, light entertainment, panel or travel shows, infotainment, current affairs, cooking, ‘how to’, sports, corporate, training, games, extensions to film or TV, or community access programs or projects whose primary market is the education sector.

Long form is defined as a single feature project (scripted or unscripted) of at least 85 minutes duration, an episodic project of at least 3 commercial hours, or an online project of at least 45 minutes total series duration.  XR (Extended Reality) projects can be any length. 

Market ready means the project must be creatively sound, have a realistic estimated budget (or budget range) and finance plan (or plans), and at a stage of sourcing finance, partners and/or pre sales. It will have undergone significant creative development and have the key creative team attached. The stage of development might vary dependent on content type, intended platform of release, and the proposed strategy.

Screen Australia is now accepting applications for events, conferences and activities which exhibit unique benefits to the Australian screen industry.

These events must demonstrate an understanding of changes in audience engagement and how content is financed, made and delivered. Applications must demonstrate how they will have an impact on their audience/participants, or within their particular area of focus.

The aims of the program are to: 

• create opportunities through new, original and inclusive approaches to the industry that will expand networks and grow the Australian screen industry
• support impactful events which are also evolving to be relevant to future audiences and the screen industry
• provide opportunities for professional development/business growth.

Screen Australia is interested in receiving applications from organisers of industry events which are innovative and forward-focused, with plans to engage practitioners in the rapidly changing screen sector.